Nexus: Heroes Will Rise

by tmb1112

Universal borders have been erased and beings from thousands of universes now live on the same world: Nexus. In the first Saga of Nexus, Awul was saved, but the mysteries of Nexus remain. Now our heroes sail across the sea to Aebrith to search for lost loved ones and save the world. MCs from DBZ, KH, Soul Eater, FT, Blue Exorcist, Bleach, 7DS, OP, Ben 10, SAO, HxH, and many more!

130. Nexus HWR 20-0 Sora and Cass Part 2

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the source material!

Nexus HWR 20.0 Adventures of Sora and Cass Part 2- Did You Know the Terminators are Blackmailing Everyone?:

"Hey Cass," Sora whispered to his angel in a trench coat who was not around him at the moment. "Just remember that when I give the signal, you get me out of there, alright? This is gonna be real tricky." Sora scratched the back of his head while scanning back and forth across a town in front of him that had a large fortress on the west side of it but really looked like just a tiny town with very few houses inside it. Sora sat on a tree branch at the edge of a forest that wrapped around the town hidden in the middle of nowhere.

Sora gazed around the air over the town and spotted several drones flying overhead with cameras on bottom of them that were scanning the ground in the area. "I think you are making a mistake."

"I know you think that," Sora replied aloud. "But now shh. I'm doing something." What am I doing? I wanted to find the Spiral King. I did not expect to find myself here. I really thought that it would be better though if I had his High Lord order him to explain it to me. Since I figure he won't want to just talk to me on his own… Well there's trouble. Sora dropped off the tree branch and held his right hand up. He gave a friendly wave at two figures wrapped in familiar-looking white auras who shot his way from the town up ahead. "Hi there!" Sora called out in his least threatening tone possible so as not to get blasted the second these people reached him. "I come in peace!"

"Who are you?!" A purple dwarf in a big green hat and sunglasses shouted down at Sora while pointing his glowing right palm at the boy. His palm glowed brighter blue than the white of his aura, as did the left hand of the more muscular burly pale-skinned man who flew up right next to him. It was snowing out around them but only a light flurry so far. The bigger man did not have a shirt on though which would have covered his defined abs and pecs and muscular arms. He had a long black braid of hair and a stern expression on his face unlike the uncaring one of the shorter purple man who shouted at Sora.

Both the dwarf's red bowtie on the collar of his jacket and the bigger guy's gold belt buckle had the letters 'R R' on them. "My name's Sora. I came looking for the one called Android 17? Have you heard of him?"

"What do you want with the boss?" The purple guy snapped. His hand glowed brighter and he cocked his head to the side, "Actually, I don't really care. How about it, 14? I'm thinking we just blast 'im? What'chu think?"

Android 14 nodded his head and said, "Agreed, 15." 14 flicked his neck back to toss the braid of black hair from draping over his shoulder to dropping behind his back. His own lifted palm glowed brighter too, and Sora's eyes widened as these two numbered figures did not sound like they were going to wait any longer.

"Hold on!" Sora held his palms out for them to stop. "Please, I'm not here to hurt him-"

"You? Hurt the boss?" 15 got a big smile on his face below his black sunglasses. "Hahaha, well, I guess this wasn't a total waste of time. You did give me a good laugh, meatbag." 15 fired and 14 did the same.

Sora summoned his Keyblade and held it in front of his body. "Protect- whoa!" The explosion on the other side of his Protect magic was so powerful that the bubble of blue magic that surrounded him still got lifted off the floor with Sora inside and sent flying backwards. Sora smashed into a tree trunk and broke off some of the branches, sending birds scattering into the air around him.

"What's that thing he's got there?!" 15 yelled while flying after Sora who he saw flip on his descent and slash his strange weapon to the side that the boy pulled out of nowhere.

"Its energy reading… does not compute," Android 14 responded while his scanners came up blank. "No known atomic element or energy reading identified. Impossible existence. Undefined. Error. Error!"

"Wow. Don't strain yourself there, big guy," 15 snapped towards his partner who shook his head around quickly and then clenched his eyes shut to stop scanning the un-scannable weapon. "Let's just destroy 'im! That'll make that strange weapon disappear, and leave us in the clear! You shouldn't have come here, human!" 15 flew down towards Sora and pulled back his fist, appearing right in front of the boy who slashed back at him but was too slow as 15 ducked the slash and punched forward into Sora's gut.

"Gah-" Sora spit up and flew backwards between some trees. "Ah! Oww, that hurts," Sora winced and groaned while rubbing his stomach where he just got hit by a punch much harder than he imagined was coming. These guys are no joke. They call 17 their boss, and they have numbers just like him. This is the power of the Androids! "Alright though, I'm no joke either!" Sora flipped around as 14 dropped down from the canopies above him as he was soaring back. He glided away from 14's kick and slashed backwards while his clothes flashed bright and then turned mainly red when the light faded.

Sora flipped around and put his legs on the tree he flew to. He bent his legs and pressed one hand down between them against the trunk. He had two Keyblades in hand now, and the one he pressed against the tree splintered the bark under his grip while 14 spun towards him. 15 wrapped around the side of that trunk and had his left hand glowing blue again already, but Sora slashed his left arm out quicker this time than 15 was expecting after he had just witnessed Sora's speed. 15's hand got knocked to the side but the energy blast fired anyway and shot a ball of energy off-target through five trees and exploding off in the forest.

Sora kicked off the tree and shot at 14 while swinging his other Keyblade. 14 spun towards the domed explosion and opened his eyes wider as did 15 as they watched trees around the blast start breaking apart and some animals fleeing in the woods around there. 14 did not turn back quickly enough when he spotted the blurring figure in red whose physical attributes had enhanced in his Valor Drive Form. Sora slashed into 14 and started an 11-hit combo that he finished off with a spin around slash-

Android 14's hands snapped up and caught both shafts of Sora's Keyblades. Sora jolted to a stop and gasped more in surprise than from the jolt. He stared at the figure who just caught both of his Keybaldes swung at full strength while in Valor Form. "Ulp," Sora gulped then pushed backwards and kicked off 14's chest while letting go of his Keyblades. 14 gazed at the two weapons he was still holding cautiously, but he turned them around and grabbed them by the hilts while considering the power Sora had slammed him with using these things. 14 lifted up the impossible weapons, and then he lifted his eyes towards the hilts that vanished from his grip.

15 rushed at Sora when he saw the defenseless kid no longer had his Keyblades, but Sora spun towards him and was slashing his unarmed right hand. 15 swerved to the side early though and pulled away. As Sora summoned his Keyblade back in that hand and slashed down, 15 smirked at him and mentioned, "I already saw you pull that thing outta nowhere once- whoa!" 15 twisted again and then flipped in the air as Sora's other arm was swinging up from his side where he had summoned his second Keyblade too and slashed up while making a much more obvious motion of the Keyblade that he slashed down to bring 15's eyes up at it. "Good one!" 15 called out even as he dodged the second attack too to Sora's dismay at the sight of the android's speed.

15's lips were curled down at the corners as he glared at the teen who would not be able to enjoy that compliment for long. "Now, my turn," 15's speed that Sora was just thinking was so fast increased even more as he stopped messing around. He appeared on Sora's left side in mid-kick, and then he blurred and appeared on Sora's right side and elbowed into the side of the boy's face. Sora flashed white and his clothes returned to normal while he was sent flying away- straight into the arms of 14 who suddenly appeared in his path.

Sora had blood trailing down the right corner of his lips. A single Keyblade was in his right hand while both arms were draped over 14's elbows that crooked around Sora's armpits. "Hold 'im there, 14. I'll finish him off." 15 appeared in front of Sora who heard his voice from farther away only to see his enemy appear right in front of him.

Sora's Keyblade glowed green on the end. His bruised face healed and the blood on it vanished. His left palm pointed forward and glowed red. 15 punched Sora in his palm and broke the boy's hand. Sora's Keyblade glowed green at that same second though, and Sora just winced before curling his fixed hand around 15's wrist and yanking the android closer to him. He smashed his forehead into 15 and knocked that android away, then he slammed his head backwards into the chin of the bulkier robot who yanked his arms even harder back after the backwards headbutt.

Sora's Keyblade flashed another Cure magic into Sora, but he yelled out in more pain as 14 was snapping his arms in this terrible position he was in. "Thundara!" Sora yelled while clenching his eyes shut in pain. Lightning slammed down on him and his enemy that sparked and flinched while releasing the boy who also got hit himself.

15 shot farther backwards away when that cloud appeared out of nowhere and dropped magic down on Sora and his own partner. "Damn magicians. I got half a mind to go blow up your whole Magic Kingdom for this little stunt!" 15 rose both hands that glowed blue, and 14 flew backwards with some smoke coming out of him then pointed both of his hands inwards at Sora too in the space between them. 15 smirked and finished at his panting enemy, "But I think I'll settle with killing you first. Now! 14!"

"Wait you two!" A voice shouted from up above the androids.

Both 14 and 15 frowned deeply and glared up above Sora towards another flying figure who dropped down through the trees and stopped just on Sora's side between the two androids. The short bald man with six dots on his forehead frowned at 15 and told the even shorter android, "I'll take it from here." The short man gripped Sora by his left arm hard and squeezed on his bicep in a way that surprised the spiky-haired teenager staring in shock at the man in an orange martial arts gi. "I'm taking this intruder to 17 myself. He'll want to see what he has to say."

Krillin? What the hell is going on? I should stay quiet, Sora stared at the side of Krillin's head and noticed a quick dart of the bald man's eyes at him. The look was angry and intense, but that just told Sora to keep up the act himself that he had no idea who this person was.

"I don't remember asking you a God damned thing," 15 snapped. "Now move aside, baldie. This is our catch. We'll do with him what we please!"

"Oh? And is destroying this forest part of that plan?" Krillin wondered. 15 flinched and glanced over his shoulder back into a smoking crater past several fallen trees. 14 darted his eyes around anxiously as well at some destruction to trees and the surrounding forest. "I'm sure 17's going to be real happy that in order to kill one person, you wrecked the forest around here. Probably killed some animals too. I don't have to tell him, but I think you should let me be the one to bring this intruder in."

"Don't threaten me, Krillin," 15 snarled towards the short human. Krillin did not back down and just glared into 15's sunglasses unwaveringly for a few more seconds. 15 scoffed and flew up in the air, lowering his arms back down to his sides with the blue glows fading from his hands. 14 flew up a second later and hovered higher at the same height as 15. "You're still new around here, but you'll learn soon why that was a real bad idea. Watch your back, short-stuff," 15 mocked him.

"You're shorter than me!" Krillin yelled back, cupping a hand to his mouth as he did. Shouldn't bring up the forest to 17. 15's going to follow through with that threat anyway though. A bead of sweat nervously dripped down Krillin's face and he started panting after the two androids were out of sight. He shook his head back and forth, then he muttered with a glance next to him, "Either one of them could rip me in half. What the hell are you doing out here, Sora?"

"Huh? Me?" Sora asked in surprise back at the short man next to him, who still had not released his arm. A bead of sweat dripped down Sora's face now as he tugged a bit against Krillin's hold to try and free his arm. Krillin loosened his grip, but he shook his head back at Sora and kept holding onto him anyway, albeit in a way that was not hurting the teen. Sora nodded in understanding back at Krillin whose eyes opened huge as there was no doubt or anxiety on Sora's face once Krillin shook his head showing he was not letting Sora go. "What are you doing here, Krillin? And uh, I mean, are you going to take me to see Android 17 now? That is what I'm here to do, actually."

Krillin lifted his eyebrows up in confusion. "I mean, if that's what you have to do anyway," Sora smiled at the short man who stared back in disbelief at Sora's relaxed attitude. The boy's Keyblade vanished into particles of light and Sora let out a heavy breath of relief, that he tried to play off as a sigh of acceptance. "Then I guess there's nothing else I can do but accept. So!" Sora smiled at Krillin and motioned back towards the town he wanted Krillin to take him to, even if it was as a prisoner. "Can we get going?"

Krillin rubbed his forehead with the hand he was not holding Sora with. "Did you even try to be stealthy when you attempted to sneak in here?" Krillin wondered softly. He started flying up in the air but darted his eyes to either side and looked towards some drones that flew his way and pointed their cameras in his direction. He focused ahead on the fortress in the middle of town that he thought back to the first time he saw it himself. Not that he would have fared any better had he tried quietly sneaking in…

---

Two Weeks Ago…

"Stealth mode, activate," Krillin crawled on all fours across a dark field towards a town up ahead.

His new Power Blocker aside, he also masked his energy to the best of his ability and made himself as insignificant as an insect should he appear on any radars. The short man in an orange gi sped across a field that he did not fly over as that would require using more energy. His eyes darted around at drones up above that had glowing red cameras on bottom of them with lights pointing down and scanning the landscape for movement.

The short man moved like a ninja in the night to avoid cameras and slip into the town undetected. His eyes narrowed towards the huge iron fortress on the west side. He had approached from the east, and he moved through the town itself cautiously. What is this place? It's a weird village to have out in the middle of nowhere. Android 17 would be in the big fortress. So who is living in these houses?

Krillin stacked up along the wall of one small house in the village. He turned his head sideways and glanced curiously through the glass to see a young woman with long red hair walking across her living room from the kitchen. She had pot-holders on her hands and a steaming dish of something smelling good that she carried to a table with a few other people sitting at it. She wore a long-sleeved pink shirt and had a white apron on as she placed the dish down onto a stone plate in the center of the dining room table that could handle the heat. "Careful now, it's hot," she warned the old man who she leaned over to place the dish down.

"It looks delicious, Suno," the old man with receding white hair told the woman who removed the pot holders and moved around the table to take her seat on the other side next to a much larger figure.

That bigger man had squared shoulders and a rectangular-shaped head with a line of stitches across his forehead and under his left eye. "And for you, Eighter," Suno added while pulling out a capsule from her apron's front pocket. She pressed a button on top of it and then dropped the capsule that popped open and left a pile of glowing red beads of some kind of material in front of Android 8. He lifted up the strange glowing balls that Krillin could not tell the origin off, and he popped a handful of them into his mouth before chewing in a very mechanical sort-of way but also while smiling ear to ear.

Krillin ducked down before anyone inside could see him looking in on their dinner. Alright, that seems normal enough. They look happy at least. That big guy must be one of the androids around here. The other two look human, at least. I wish there was more information on 17 and the kind of operation he's running up here though. I'm just winging it.

Krillin darted off the street he started jogging down again when he spotted a couple of robotic figures coming around a corner ahead of him. They spun their heads and looked down the road, but Krillin stood with his back to a corner he had ducked behind too quickly for those metallic robots with barely humanoid shapes to see him. The two silver robots kept walking across the intersection ahead of where Krillin had been going that stretched north to south, and Krillin waited another few seconds after that before coming out of his cover.

He sprinted across that intersection while continuing to the west. Krillin darted his eyes up and spotted a drone flying overhead that scanned a red light across where he was just standing, but he had already taken his next step and appeared three blocks farther down so he was just in front of the giant fortress now. How do I get inside without setting off any alarms? I need to make sure I see Android 17 himself! He's the one with the best chance of actually knowing where she is.

Krillin took in a deep breath as he prepared to infiltrate the armored fortress. The quaint town around the fortress was not as difficult to sneak into, but he only saw one large entryway into the building in front of him. There were a few windows though on the front walls. If I can get through up there, I can try to slip away inside. If I close the window behind me quickly enough then maybe someone who comes to check on it will just think it's a false alarm.

He knew he was being overly hopeful, but there was no time to question his decision as he glanced back and saw two drones flying aimlessly his way but scanning the ground just behind him. Krillin jumped up in the air towards the window, curling his fingers into the windowsill and the frame of the window itself that he pushed inwards. Crack- chh. Krillin ripped the metal hinges straight off the wall as the window was locked when he pushed inwards.

He flew inside and pushed the window shut behind him, trying to shut it hard enough to lodge the broken hinges back into place. He just chipped off more of the wall around it and crushed the frame of the window in his hand. "Crapbaskets," Krillin muttered while dropping the window and some shattered glass on the floor. That could have gone better!

WoooOOOP! WoooOOOP!

Krillin darted down the hall and then around a corner and up some stairs. He shot down another hall and opened a door that he ducked behind and pressed his back up against. "Ahh, hahhh, ahh, hahh," he panted a few times while listening to the sirens continue to go off for another twenty seconds. I need to keep moving. If they have cameras good enough, they might have been able to track my speed- huh? Krillin lifted his eyes to the ceiling and listened closely, but the alarms really had turned off. "Huh," he relaxed and slouched his shoulders while still masking his energy. Why would they turn off-

Smash! A fist of palish-blue skin punched through the doorway so close to Krillin's head that had it been a foot to the left it would have punched straight through his skull. "Ah!" Krillin slid down the door to his butt right before that punching-through arm could wrap inwards and grab him by the face.

The door was ripped off though and thrown backwards by the muscular android who Krillin spun to and dropped his jaw at the sight of. "Y-You're, Android 14-"

Android 14 reached down and grabbed Krillin by the top of his bald head. He squeezed. Krillin flared his hidden white aura and kicked his left leg up, and it bounced off the muscular stomach of the Android that only leaned back a little from the force of that blow. 14 spun to his side and smacked Krillin's body into the wall so hard that Krillin broke through it and back out into the hallway.

Krillin flipped over on debris and fell on his ass. He pressed his hands down into the ground and pushed himself backwards. Krillin scrambled back as 14 marched into the hall and glared right straight into Krillin's eyes. The huge robot stomped towards Krillin and then ran after the short man who scrambled back on his hands and feet as quickly as he could before rolling to his left just before 14 punched down into where his stomach just was. Krillin got hit by the force of the blow and by some steel of the hallway's floor that ripped up and into his back, throwing him into another corner that he bounced off of and spun out-of-control down that hall.

Krillin rolled head-over-heels down the hall all the way into a tall steel doorway that he slammed against upside-down. He squinted open his closed eyes and stared at the figure marching towards him who looked upside-down himself because of the way Krillin rested on his bald head. He reached his hands down to flip himself over. Oh Krillin, what kind of mess have you gotten- Krillin's self-deprecating thought cut short as the steel door behind him pulled sideways into the wall before he could flip himself over on his own. Since his upper back was still resting against that wall, he fell backwards the rest of the way onto his back and stared straight up at the man on the other side of the door.

17 stared down at Krillin's face while the bald man lay just in front of his feet. 14 stopped marching down the hallway towards him. "Boss, the intruder," Android 14 said, motioning down at the human who flipped himself over and got up quickly onto both feet.

"I can see that," Android 17 replied. He tilted his head to the right and looked the bald man up and down, "What are you doing here, baldy?" 17 reached out and pushed on the front of Krillin's forehead before the human could answer. Krillin went stumbling back through the hall he had just rolled through. "You shouldn't be here," 17 said, his tone annoyed and dark as he glared down the man who darted a look over his shoulder as he felt another vibration come from his back too.

"Look at that! It's Son Goku's misfit henchman," a voice called out behind 14 who Krillin just snapped a look back towards.

Android 15 stood at the end of the hall. The shortest android cocked his head to the side and looked around 14's muscular back. He tilted his head forward and his red eyes glowed from behind his sunglasses as they scanned over Krillin and recognized who he was. "Looks like he came alone though. Heart rate is through the roof. Guess he knows he's about to die."

"You were, destroyed," Krillin whispered while looking back towards 14 and 15 behind him.

15 laughed then scoffed towards the human, "What? Did you think only meat-sacks like you got brought back on this world?" Krillin darted a look back towards 17 then around at the robots behind him again, unsure of how to answer that question as he honestly was surprised by it. "Oh that's not cool. You thought we were just chunks of metal, didn't you?" Krillin did not answer quickly enough. 15 vanished from Krillin's eyes and appeared behind the man who was only looking sideways with his head. He had not turned his body from 17, and that meant that 15 punched him directly in his left kidney so hard that Krillin feared it might have ruptured from how much pain he was in.

He got smashed into the ground and skid towards 17 who lifted a foot and stopped him short underneath it. 17 glared down at the bald man who pressed both hands onto the floor below him even as 17 stomped on him harder. "Where is 18?" Krillin growled, lifting his head up under 17's boot and staring up angrily into 17's eyes. 17 lifted his foot a little, and Krillin started to lift his own head more- only for 17's foot to come back down and slam Krillin's face into the floor.

"Ahh-" Krillin yelled out in pain. His eyes slammed shut but he yelled out after the shout of pain, "Do you know?! Where is she?!" Krillin yelled, his fists balling underneath him and then glowing bright white.

The floor underneath Krillin broke apart as he slammed his arms downwards through the hallway. 14 and 15 just stayed floating at the same elevation even as the floor dropped below them. 17's foot came off Krillin's head a bit as Krillin fell down faster than just by gravity as 17 allowed himself to fall. Krillin flew downwards too and flipped over, grabbing 17's leg and swinging down into the floor below them. 17 smashed back-first into the floor but his facial expression did not change while he stared up at Krillin. "Have you seen her? Your sister, is she here?!" Krillin yelled.

"What do you care?" 17 wondered up towards the bald man. He vanished from the ground that Krillin was diving down towards. The short bald human stared in shock as he did not even see movement like he had at least caught a glimpse of when 15 moved so fast to punch him in the kidney upstairs. This time 17 was just gone, and then Krillin felt an arm around his neck as 17 floated behind him and put him in a stranglehold with ease. "What does my sister mean to you? Why did you come here, just to die, for her?" 17 wondered curiously at the side of Krillin's head.

The Z fighter's face was turning pale as his throat was squeezed in the crook of 17's elbow. He gasped for breath as the grip on his neck loosened the lightest amount, allowing him to shout while looking through bloodshot eyes to his left side and meeting 17's gaze. "She is my wife. And I love her!" Krillin gasp-yelled into 17's face.

17 blinked a couple of times with a flat expression on his face. The two other androids up above glanced at each other with confused looks then stared back down at the human who just said that. 17's grip around Krillin's neck remained tight and even tightened more for a second, causing Krillin to raise both arms and try to pry that arm off from around his throat. Then, the bald man tugging on 17's arm tensed up from head to toe. 17 wondered at him, "So, then it was yours?"

Krillin's squinting eyes shifted back towards 17's expression that he stared at confusedly. 17's grip around Krillin's neck loosened more. Then he let go and just floated back from the human who dropped on his feet to the floor below covered in rubble from the one Krillin had destroyed. 17 ran a hand through his long dark hair and frowned down at the coughing human who stared back up confusedly at him. "What was… mine?" Krillin asked. "What are you talking about?" Krillin demanded to know.

"You shouldn't have come here, Krillin," Android 17 started to warn. Then he turned his head and looked above him as he noticed something coming. The other two androids flew backwards and avoided the flying television with jets coming out of it that floated down right next to Android 17's head. The screen turned to static and then flashed on, and Krillin's eyes shook as he stared at a security feed on the monitor that showed him a woman with blonde hair as long as her twin brother's and styled in the same way.

That woman was sitting on the floor cross-legged, playing with a small blonde girl in a yellow dress in front of her who looked about two years old. They were inside a dome of some kind that had a small house in it, a swing-set on a tree branch, and an iron door on one side of the dome opposite from where the tiny cottage home was. In front of that steel doorway stood another woman in a red leather jacket who had cold eyes and a fake smile on her face. The Terminatrix, or T-X, model terminator had the appearance of a beautiful woman with a blonde ponytail who did not scare the little girl in the middle of the room. As that little girl was playing with the toys between her and her mother though, Android 18 lifted up a glare over the girl's head and to the robot guard on the other side of the room.

Krillin stood back up on his feet and stared at the images in utter shock. "Th-That's…" Krillin whispered, looking at the face of the tiny girl in that image who looked so, so familiar. He had never seen her before and yet knew from a single look who she was.

"Your wife, is she now? Dear Krillin, you should have watched what you said in this building." An ominous voice spoke over the feed and sent chills down Krillin's spine. The image on the screen cut off and a different picture appeared on it. A different feed replaced the one that had Android 18 on it with her young daughter under surveillance, and instead projected an image with the face of a man whose brain was encased in a domed cage of glass.

Krillin's eyes grew even wider at the sight of the man who wore a tall black hat over his long white hair and the partially-revealed brain cage, a black hat with the letters 'R R' inscribed in a red ribbon design on the front of it. He wore a white lab coat that was pushed out above his large rounded shoulders that were hidden underneath. In the background of this figure who appeared was a giant white lab of some kind. The room was full of walking metal robots with glowing red eyes, and there was one other man in the background who had blue skin and a matching lab coat who stood behind a computer working on a different project. Krillin was only focused on the old man directly in the middle of the screen though who grinned at him. It was a man who had beaten him nearly to death once before. He remembered that intense pain but was angrier for a new reason as he scowled the madman's name, "Doctor Gero."

"Because now that I know that you care for them, you are going to do exactly what I say. Or 18 and sweet innocent Marron will pay the price…"

---

Present

Krillin held Sora by the arm and dragged him into a room inside the fortress in Android 17's town that the High Lord himself turned around in. "Who is that, Krillin?" 17 asked darkly towards the shorter man who brought this person before him.

"I'm Sora!" Sora called out. He lifted his free hand and waved at the man who lifted his eyebrows at the seemingly high spirits of this person Krillin appeared to have taken prisoner.

One other figure was in the metal room full of computers lining the wall behind 17. This man sitting on a chair in front of those computers looked to be a normal human wearing a suit and tie. His hair was short and black. He turned towards the doorway as well when Android 17 looked over, only this figure appeared nervous and flinched when he looked towards the entrance and spotted Krillin and the other new human arrival.

"I caught him out in the surrounding forest," Krillin began.

"And what were you doing lurking around here, Sora?" Android 17 questioned the strange-looking teenager. He also darted a quick glance back at Krillin though at the strange way in which the bald man was holding onto the prisoner and looking so frustrated. Krillin knows him? That might be why the kid doesn't actually seem nervous. He's wrong not to be-

"I was wondering if you could contact the Spiral King, Lordgenome?" Sora wondered at 17. Now Krillin looked to his side at Sora in confusion too, wondering what his young acquaintance was doing in such a situation. "I have some questions for him, but I didn't think he would answer me if I went to ask him myself. I was hoping you would order him to."

17 blinked a few times. His confusion over this boy's request outweighed any anger he felt about the entire thing. "And why, did you think I would do that?" Android 17 wondered back at him.

"Well, Lordgenome knows some answers about why Nexus is, like this. I think," Sora explained. Android 17 pulled his head back in utter confusion but also surprise that the boy was answering him rather than getting nervous when he just tried to sound like he was denying him. Sora just gave him a small smirk though and added, "I doubt he's said anything about it, but if you want to listen in to the questions I ask him- if you do let me, and order him to answer me truthfully, then we could both learn something new about this world?" Sora suggested. He bounced his eyebrows at the High Lord who stood still and stared back into Sora's eyes for a few seconds longer before noticing a quick movement of the anxious-looking man sitting behind the computers.

The way that figure behind Android 17 on his left side darted a look at him then moved his hands, made Android 17 sigh and cross his arms over his chest. "I don't know what you're talking about, but for some reason Krillin looks freaked out. As if you're not crazy, but rather like he thinks you know what you're talking about," Android 17 analyzed Krillin's reactions which made the shorter man spin back to him from Sora who he had been staring at nervously and with sweat dripping down his face at the real reason Sora had come here. "So I accept your, strange proposal."

Krillin let go of Sora's arm while the spiky-haired boy flashed him a smile as if he was glad that Krillin believed him enough that he made such a look that 17 believed too. Krillin spun back towards 17 though with his jaw dropped as he did not expect that response either. "Alright!" Sora clapped his hands together. "That's great. I heard the Spiral King submitted to you because of your strength, so he should answer any questions as long as you tell him too, yeah?"

"That is correct," 17 replied.

"I-I'll call up, the Spiral King," the man sitting at the computer behind 17 said, stuttering at the start anxiously while spinning back to face the computers.

Sora lowered his lips from his smile back down flat. Is that a slave? He isn't chained up or anything, but with how strong these Androids are, do they not have to tie him up? No chance of escape. He sounds scared. Nervous, at the least. It's weird though, when I said that stuff about Lordgenome, he looked really interested for a second rather than nervous. Most normal people would have gotten more scared to hear that.

"Yes, you do that," 17 told the figure behind him.

Sora walked forward across most of the room but stopped behind the chair the anxious guy in a suit jacket was sitting on. Krillin followed more slowly behind him, darting a look towards 17 who did not meet his gaze to instead just look at the screen that was blinking as the Spiral King was contacted by his High Lord. "Hello?" The man sitting at the computers began, after lifting up a headset and putting it over his head. "No- no, Lord 17 desires to speak to Lordgenome himself. Please transfer us through- yes, okay." The man held a hand over his microphone then turned to 17 and hesitantly said, "They said '1 minute.'"

"Hm," Android 17 hummed.

"Leaving you on hold?" Sora asked in shock, looking at 17 with wide eyes seemingly at the disrespect. 17 turned back towards him and stared at this boy in confusion as it felt like the teen was joking with him. Sora shook his head back and forth, "I didn't know the Spiral King was such a rude- oh, Lordgenome!" Sora spun back to the screens and the one that he knew was about to turn on so he had started his insult in time that he could cut it off after Lordgenome heard it.

The Spiral King froze while staring at his own monitor that had just gotten patched through to with this feed. He stared past the nervous figure on the chair who slid his seat out of the way so that Sora was in the center of the camera angle, with Android 17 behind him on his left and Krillin behind him to his right. Sora rose a hand and waved at the Spiral King when the speechless man on the other side answered the call and saw the person looking back at him who had just called him 'rude' to his own High Lord. "Sora," Lordgenome said in a low voice as he recognized the person he was looking back at.

I don't like him, Sora thought. Am I just angry about Han, Aragorn and the others? "Was Cytomander acting on your orders?" Sora asked. It had nothing to do with what he told 17 he was here for, and 17 spun to him while Krillin did the same on Sora's other side. Sora's smile had dipped down more at the corners though. Anger flashed over his face as he thought back on his last close encounter with beastmen. The original meeting with Simon, fighting alongside the Spiral King's forces, and Kairi's stories about that kind beastman Viral, Sora had not hated them at the time. The last interaction was much worse though.

"Sora," Krillin began nervously as he saw a darker look form on 17's face.

The High Lord of the Androids thought that Sora might have actually been lying about why they were calling up Lordgenome, in order to learn about something else entirely. The Spiral King replied though before 17 could speak up, "I don't know what you're talking about. I have not seen Cytomander the Swift once since I appeared on this world. He was once my general, but on Nexus? No."

Sora frowned at the answer but hummed and started nodding his head. Alright. That's, fair. I shouldn't hold it against him then. "Sorry," Sora said back to Android 17 behind him. "I'll get to the important questions now."

"My Lord… what is going on?" Lordgenome questioned 17 who he looked to through his own monitor. "What is a Keybearer doing there?"

"A 'keybearer?' What's that?" Android 17 asked his Lord.

Sora darted a look down below the screens and to the back of the suited man's head. That figure had just darted him a look quicker than 17 did when they heard what Lordgenome had called him. Something's not right about this guy. I don't think he's actually a slave, and I'm pretty sure he's pretending to be nervous too. Sora felt unsettled by the strange figure who did not look back towards him but instead just refaced the screen where Lordgenome's face appeared.

Lordgenome hesitated for another second, then 17 sighed and snapped at him, "This is why I called you up, Lord Lordgenome. Answer all of my questions, and Sora's. Answer truthfully, or I will annihilate your city from here." 17 sounded bored when he said it, like Lordgenome was wasting his time by hesitating right now. 17 lifted up his left palm and pointed it towards the window across the room, and Sora's eyes snapped towards that arm and the yellow light that glowed around 17's hand.

"The Keybearers! Are powerful warriors. Guardians, they are also known as." Lordgenome started speaking quickly. The glow on Android 17's hand faded and he crossed his arms while nodding at the Spiral King to continue.

Sora's heart started racing even faster. He had no idea how far away the Spiral King's city was, but he had not seen any cities for miles around them on his way here. How strong is 17 really? Krillin's one of the strongest people I know! Those other androids outside he said could rip him in half, so the one in charge of them? This 17 must be insanely powerful! Is… is he as strong as Goku?

"…Lordgenome. You knew about the Keyblade when we first met, days after getting to this world," Sora started to the bald man on the screen who looked back from 17 to meet Sora's gaze instead. Lordgenome figured out what this call was really about as Sora looked into his eyes. That one look and he could tell that this was of Sora's doing. His own eyes narrowed at the boy, but he did still see his High Lord on the same screen and so he just furled his brow in annoyance but said nothing against this. "How did you know about it?"

"What is this 'Keyblade' that you have your hands on?" Android 17 asked the teenager who glanced towards him then turned fully to face the android. Sora held his right hand out to the side, and light shimmered out of nowhere around his fingers before a flash of it made a weapon appear. The long key-shaped weapon had a blue grip that curved out past Sora's hand and spiked off the sides. Three prongs at the end had rectangular shapes, with the middle one curved down at the end of it.

17 tilted his head to the side and examined the strange weapon that Sora summoned out of thin air, but Sora was not looking at 17's examination which the High Lord noticed behind the weapon he stared at. 17 watched with his eyes widening a little more as Sora's eyes were not on his own weapon, nor on 17 who asked him about it, nor on the Lord back on the screen who they had called. Sora stared at a different person who was eying his Keyblade with much wider eyes. When that figure in a black suit looked up from the weapon and to Sora's face though, Sora's eyes were already off of him and moving back onto the screens. Android 17 looked back himself too as Sora spoke up to Lordgenome again, but the High Lord did note to himself that the Keyblade remained in Sora's right hand when he refaced the screen without letting the weapon disappear…

"What do you know of the Keyblade, Spiral King?" Sora questioned the Lord who had yet to respond due to 17's interruption.

Lordgenome took in a deep breath then nodded his head back at Sora. "Alright. I suppose no harm can come from explaining my experience with your kind." Sora nodded back at him gratefully but kept a steady stern expression on his face as he prepared to hear this.

Krillin gulped behind Sora who he darted his eyes at nervously again before snapping his attention back to the screen himself. Oh I was not ready for this today. Who the hell are you, Sora?

"The Keybearer came to our world during the war between the Spirals and Anti-Spirals," Lordgenome began. He spoke to Sora but also explained to his High Lord who seemed intrigued by the look on his face. 17's gaze shifted down to the back of Sora's head for a moment then to the screen again himself. "Not to interfere with the war," Lordgenome continued. "But because our war had brought something else to our universe."

"The Heartless," Lordgenome revealed then paused at the darker look on Sora's face while his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He noticed the recognition by the Keybearer but already expected it. He continued on, "They appeared on my Earth after I turned on humanity, and forced the Spiral race underground."

"Duh," Sora muttered. Lordgenome paused with his mouth open. He glared at Sora, and Sora told him in a flat voice, "Of course the Heartless were going to show up if you did something so evil."

Lordgenome bit down hard and ground his teeth behind his lips. "You do not understand…"

"Oh really? You did what you did because of your fear of the Anti-Spiral, or your fear of the apocalypse that it predicted would come, but Simon destroyed the Anti-Spiral. We were stronger!" Sora shouted at the Spiral King.

Krillin's eyes trembled as he thought of a night shortly after arriving on this world. His bottom lip dropped while he stared shakily at a boy talking about something he recognized. Sora was there. How did I forget that? We were just protecting people from the chaos, but Sora… what was he doing? Was he in one of those robots- No! I remember! Was that guy who flew in?! I don't… It was too crazy. Even for this world. Krillin shook his head around. The third night on Nexus was a hard one to forget, but equally as hard to remember considering what the fight actually looked like was impossible to comprehend. The scale was incalculable.

"Perhaps I was wrong, but don't act like such a saint, Keybearer," Lordgenome scolded the young man who just taunted him for being the cause of the Heartless' arrival on his world. Sora froze up and closed his mouth, getting confused and uneasy at the way that the Spiral King just said that. "The Keybearer at the time closed our world's Keyhole. He eliminated a source of corruption where the Heartless were emerging from… And then he left." Lordgenome glared down the self-righteous boy, "He did nothing to stop my purge."

Sora's wide eyes went back to their normal size. He turned his head left and lowered his head a bit while staring towards the windows. He was upset to hear it, and his right hand clenched tighter on the Keyblade that he looked down at next. Krillin and 17 were each staring towards that weapon in Sora's right hand too, as was the third man in the room whose anxious expression was gone as he just examined the Keyblade with a blank gaze. 17's eyes narrowed at the key, What is that weapon?

"You say I was the cause, but what did your predecessor do to stop me? Nothing. They mitigated the damage. Prevented more Heartless from emerging. Cleaned up a mess, and nothing more," Lordgenome paused while examining Sora's frustrated expression himself through his screen. "I may have made my fair share of mistakes, but your kind are no Gods. Simply errand boys."

"The Keybearers, are not to meddle in the affairs of other worlds," Sora whispered. His voice was loud enough though that Lordgenome's smug smirk as he mocked Sora flattened out. His eyes widened and then he flinched as Sora lifted a frustrated but steady look back at him. "I understand why they didn't help. Maybe he thought that you and the Anti-Spiral were right. Maybe, he was trying to help, by not stopping you? I don't know exactly," Sora shook his head back and forth. "We're not supposed to meddle, but, I'm sorry. I'm sorry he didn't stop you. To me, the Keyblade is different. I think we're supposed to be heroes."

Sora flashed a small smile at the man on the screen who he apologized to. "Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but it's what I believe at least. That the Keyblade is a responsibility to protect all people, not just from the Heartless and dark creations like them, but from all evils…" If I thought differently, I'd be ready to leave this world already. I do have other battles to fight. Other enemies of that sort. But Meruem is evil too. So is Satan, and Xemnas! There's a lot I still need to do.

"Like Lelouch," Krillin whispered.

Sora lost his darker look and perked up. He smiled and turned towards Krillin who 17 also darted a look at. The android had accused Krillin for taking so long to come looking. That name Krillin mentioned was something he tried to use to defend himself for why he had not come any sooner. "Yeah, like Lelouch." Sora lowered his eyes to the floor for a second while thinking of what happened in that base and how he ended Lelouch's life, but he forced back up his smile while looking at Krillin and seeing the result of his action was a man freed from that slavery. He also thought of another "person" who was watching over him right now and still waiting for his call, which made him smile brighter at the thought of how he had freed Castiel too.

Sora, Krillin gulped. You fight for what's good and right. With no great desire to fight battles against strong opponents like Goku has. You just feel that responsibility. You're, a real hero. I'm happy to know you. I'm happy, that you trust me. Krillin winced. His eyes shifted towards the suited man who was staring at Sora's weapon still while no one else was. His own soft and happy thoughts soured and his fists clenched while he glared at the figure watching Sora much too closely. I need to get Sora out of here!

"If that is all?" Lordgenome wondered after a few seconds that he took to recompose himself. He had felt a bit flustered there when Sora spouted out that speech and apologized rather than get defensive over it. He just glared at the boy now who he knew had gone to his High Lord in order to force him to answer these questions.

Seems that's all he knows, 17 thought and nodded back at his subordinate Lord. "Yes. You may go."

"Thank you," Sora added before Lordgenome could end the call. The man flinched again as Sora said that, and he ended the call then shook his head around to clear it.

"Well," Sora cracked his neck to either side. "I suppose I was looking for more than that," Sora admitted.

"That was interesting," 17 admitted. He looked towards the other man in this room with them who stared at him then turned Krillin's way too and made the bald man standing there curl his fists tighter but keep his mouth closed.

"Alright," Sora turned to face Krillin. "Now it's your turn. I told you why I was here and we've gone through everything I needed to do. Now Krillin, you explain what you're doing here." Krillin stared back at Sora with his eyes widening. Sora smiled at the short man while asking him and him alone, "Do you want to be here, or are they forcing you to do this?"

Krillin cursed in his head. He did so because he saw the thin man behind Sora give him a small nod. It's too late, Krillin thought. He shook his head sadly and looked at Sora in a dejected way, "I'm sorry, Sora. My wife, 18, and our daughter…" Sora's eyes shook in shock as he stared back at Krillin who let out a small laugh. "Apparently 18 was pregnant when she came to this world. Who knew?" Krillin had water in his eyes while he asked the question with another laugh, though it was clearly a painful one.

"18, your wife," Sora paused and looked to 17. "Is she your…"

"Sister," 17 finished for Sora who nodded back at him. "My twin sister. And she has a bomb in her chest," Android 17 added in an annoyed tone. His arms were crossed and he glared past a shocked Sora at the disguised robot that stepped forward behind the boy's back.

The face of the normal-looking guy behind Sora turned much more menacing. The expression was not real though. It was a menacing look that looked by design rather than one fitting the mood. It all just looked fake, which Sora understood meant that this was not an "android" at all that he was looking at. The eyes of the man in a suit glowed a dim red while he opened his mouth and a different voice than the one that spoke before came out. "Sora? Was it?"

Sora's eyes narrowed from their shocked look that he had spun to Krillin with after 17 mentioned the bomb in 18's chest. Sora turned towards the robot while a voice came out of it, "It was quite tricky replacing the bomb in 18's chest that fool Krillin wished to be removed. A wish on the all-powerful Shenron, and you used it to remove a couple of bombs that Bulma Briefs could have removed blindfolded. Imbecile."

17 kept frowning in annoyance but Krillin looked the more pissed of the two of them as this voice insulted him. Sora spun back to the two behind him then to the robot again. "Look, Sora. Look at Krillin's wife and daughter." The robot in front of Sora turned and stepped to the computers, tapping on a few buttons below the monitors that the robot looked down at with its red eyes. Then it looked back up at the screens that showed surveillance of a domed house with a Terminatrix guard. Sora stepped forward closer to those computers, while 17 and Krillin stared towards the screens themselves and checked on their family.

"Who are you?" Sora questioned. His voice was shocked and pained as he turned sideways from the screens to glare at the robot standing there. "If you have Android 17 doing whatever you say, then you have more power than a High Lord." This isn't Meruem, right? That wouldn't make sense. It's someone from Goku's own world. Who is it?!

"Who we are does not matter… If you must know however, my name is Doctor Gero. I share power with my partner: the brilliant Doctor Myuu. We are the High Lord of Terminus! It is thought by many that Aizen's Northern Continent, or perhaps the massive Alvarez Empire are likely the largest countries on Aebrith. With Terminus and Android territory together though, it is Terminus who actually have the most land. The entire northeast of Aebrith is ours."

Terminus? Oh geez. Gray mentioned them, right? God, there are way too many villains on Aebrith. I can't keep track of them all! Sora nodded his head while maintaining a serious eye contact with this robot claiming to have more power than anyone. Sora sweatdropped though. He did so because the other two lands that this Terminus robot just mentioned were the Northern Continent and Alvarez, the leaders of which he had not even thought about when he imagined the villains he still had to face here on Nexus before he could leave. Meruem, Satan, and Xemnas were the obvious ones I guess. Though the others say that the "Espada" who attacked them in Pyraxas, which they needed Zoro to save them from, is one of Aizen's. And the Spriggan 12 who attacked them heading south, including the one who crucified Ben, were Zeref's. But Terminus? Ugh, well, that is why I asked. Now I know. Now I know, that I have no idea who I'm up against. They put a bomb in Krillin's wife's chest though. She's with her daughter right now. They're both in danger.

"You made a mistake coming this far north, Keybearer," Dr. Gero told the boy he was looking at through the spy robot's eyes. Sora's eyes narrowed back at the villain taunting him already while starting up his spiel. "Now I know you don't want anything to happen to poor 18 and Marron, do you? Hah hah hahh. That's right. You will now remain where you are, publicly in the service of the 'Androids.' You will be obeying Terminus' orders though. The first of which, is that you tell me all about Son Goku who you have been traveling-"

Sora sliced up his Keyblade and slashed the robot in front of him in half diagonally. Krillin's jaw dropped behind Sora while 17's eyes bulged huge and then narrowed in anger quickly. He stomped forward and rose his right arm- "Protendra!" Sora yelled out. A bubble of blue energy pulsed out away from him and slammed into 17's arm and Krillin's when the short man stepped forward next. Sora meanwhile, continued slashing back and forth through the robot that was not expecting to be attacked. The eyes were cut through, and Dr. Gero's feed inside the room cut off as his spy robot got taken apart.

Sora swung his Keyblade towards the door of the room that locked behind him. The bubble forcefield dropped, and 17 shot forward, "Wait!" Sora called out.

"Sora!" Krillin shot forward and Sora looked towards him with the same panicked but reassuring expression that he just looked at 17 with. Krillin bit down in rage though and yelled, "What are you doing?! That's my wife and daughter-"

"And that's why he won't do anything to them because of me!" Sora exclaimed back quickly at the furious short man who looked about as ready to murder him as 17 did. Sora was sweating at the looks from these two that had appeared seriously murderous there for a second. Sora spun to 17 quickly who was standing closer to him and had an open left palm held out looking like he might slash it forward at any second. "Does he have any other cameras in here?"

"…No. Not yet." 17 responded. The Doctors are paranoid. They know how easy it is for them to hack, so they fear being spied on by others and their big plans revealed. 17 paused and then glanced back towards the door that Sora had locked too with a flick of his Keyblade towards it. There are other cameras on droids that are coming up here. Sora already thought of that. 17's hand lowered down a little while he looked straight back at Sora. "Talk," he told the boy who apparently had not just cut that robot into pieces on a whim. I noticed that he had figured out something was up a while ago. Did he already make this plan? He's smarter than he looks.

Krillin spun to 17 then back to Sora. He was still panting himself, darting a look back to the screens behind Sora that had never been turned off from the security footage of his wife and daughter whom he had yet to meet on this world. His heart clenched so tightly in pain as he watched them sitting in their house together that was under constant surveillance. "Sora, that was-"

"It's not a risk," Sora promised the older man who sounded so frustrated and upset with him. "Listen. They aren't going to get rid of the leverage they have over a High Lord and a Z Fighter just to get me. Gero must have thought it was a stretch anyway to be able to get me," Sora added with a shake of his head and smile at Krillin who he wanted to see how ridiculous that is. Krillin started nodding his head while thinking of what Sora was saying. "He wanted to abuse the fact that I said all that stuff about being good and helping people, trying to abuse that I'm a Keybearer and am good at heart. The robot would have just recorded the two of you staying loyal and trying to stop me right there, as I only destroyed its eyes after you two moved."

Krillin's eyes widened more that Sora even thought about that. "So now that it's destroyed, we can talk without Terminus listening."

17 kept a flat expression but after a second did lower his hand down from in front of Sora's chest. Krillin grimaced next to the High Lord while looking back towards the door and awaiting some other robot to come try to get back in on this at any second. 17 spoke in a low voice himself at Sora, "Great plan and all, but if we let you go, Terminus won't like it."

"Tell them I escaped then into a portal, which is one way I might actually leave here in a bit," Sora admitted. Don't want the Androids or Terminus to find out about Castiel. I think that's a bad idea, and these two might get blackmailed into revealing him. Could I call out to Castiel and have him get me while I'm inside the darkness though? Might as well try it, then just do it again if it doesn't work once I get out of the portal. "The fact that I so quickly dismantled that robot should show Terminus that I'm capable enough not to get captured, and I'm sure you can convince them that you really tried." Sora added hopefully at 17 who looked thoughtful about that.

"Now," Sora got a more intense look on his face and looked into Krillin's eyes. "How can I help free your family?"

Krillin pursed his lips while staring back into Sora's compassionate eyes. He glanced to his side at 17 again who he could see was still thinking about grabbing Sora right here and capturing him before the next Terminus robot showed up. "Calm down, 17," Krillin told his brother-in-law who frowned back at him. Krillin gulped at 17's harsh look, but he mentioned, "Sora's right. They're not going to do anything to her because of him." Krillin looked intensely back into Sora's eyes and added, "I was really angry at first too, thinking Sora risked 18's life over a hunch. We need to think about this though," he added with his tone trying to slow Sora down.

"Do you know where they're keeping them? If you do-"

"I don't," Krillin snapped at Sora for trying to come up with plans right away when they did not even have that much information. "Their location is secret, but he'll know if we try! All he has to do is press a button-" Krillin's face was scrunched up and he sounded angry and frustrated at Sora who eased back and gave a softer look his way.

"I understand what you're feeling, Krillin," Sora told the short man who bit down and shook his head once that Sora tried to convince him of that. "Because Kairi's captured by the Organization right now." Krillin flinched as his last thought about how Sora had no idea what he was feeling turned into a gut punch as he looked up and saw the sad but focused look on Sora's face too. 17 stared in more surprise at the young man clearly talking about a girl that meant the equivalent to him as what 18 was to Krillin. I'm going on a hunch to let Axel and Roxas protect her. That's more of a hunch than that Terminus wouldn't hurt your wife, just because I ignored them. Mine's much riskier- focus on Krillin!

Sora got too caught up in his own fear for Kairi for a second that his panting got heavier and his breathing shakier too. "17, you're only listening to Terminus because of that bomb in your sister's chest, is that correct?" Sora wondered at the High Lord of the Cooperative in front of him.

Android 17 let out a long breath and darted his eyes around the room again. Nothing in here recording me. No hidden microphones. I would know. The check for surveillance came subconsciously as a precaution even though he could scan and sense if there was anything in there. "Years, Sora. It's been like this for years."

"That doesn't mean it has to be this way forever," Sora retorted back. "Don't you want to be free? I'm not letting my friend's daughter or his wife stay trapped like that any longer than necessary. I won't put them at risk either," Sora added for reassurance to the men who might be worried that he would try something even more rash next time. Sora looked straight into the shorter man's eyes that shook at what Sora called him, "You're my friend, Krillin. No matter what it takes, I'll help you get 18 and your daughter back."

"I, haven't even met her," Krillin admitted, his voice cracking as he told Sora it with a small and agonized smile.

Sora stepped forward and reached his left hand out that he rested on Krillin's right shoulder. "You'll get to, very soon." Sora turned right and looked into 17's eyes too. "If you were to be released from Terminus control, would you consider joining the Resistance?" Sora wondered at the dark-haired android who stared back in disbelief at the question.

"You're seriously asking me that right now?" Android 17 questioned.

"It's important that you tell me 'yes,'" Sora informed the High Lord who tensed up at the phrasing of Sora's statement.

Why? Krillin thought while Sora lowered the hand from his shoulder. Why is that important?

Android 17 hesitated for another few seconds then nodded his head up and down. He suddenly glanced back towards the door to this room though. "A drone is coming. You can't be here-"

17 spun back in surprise. His eyes grew wide while Krillin just stared in recognition at the black portal like the one that had transported all of them to Metropolis a few months ago. "I promise I'll do what I can for you two, and for your family. I give you my word." Sora stepped back into his black portal that swirled around him and then started sinking back into the floor.

When the portal closed, Sora was left standing in a black void all on his own. The High Lord of the Androids is Krillin's brother-in-law? Sora pressed a palm into his forehead and ground his teeth. This is too complicated. I just made a promise that I don't know if I can keep. I make way too many of those. What am I thinking?! I can't do this. Stop it, darkness. I can't though! I can't even save Kairi!

Sora lifted his head and ran forward towards a dark portal he swirled to life in front of him. He dove out of it and rolled on the grassy ground on the other side. "Cass!" Sora called out.

An angel in a trench coat appeared standing next to where Sora rolled to a stop on his hands and knees. The teenager panted with his head bowed, darting a look to his side for a second and seeing Castiel standing there. I'm okay. I'm not alone. I hate using the darkness. I don't get how Riku does it so easily. Sora shook his head around and pushed up to his feet. "Did you hear all of that?" Sora wondered to his angelic friend.

Castiel nodded his head back at Sora. "The Terminus leaders seem to be blackmailing 17 into doing their bidding." Castiel glanced over Sora's head and at the swirling black vortex that Sora just dove out of. He had been searching for him in the completely wrong area, hundreds of miles away, when he heard Sora shout out his name and teleported over to him. Castiel glanced down at Sora's back, and some dark wisps that had been coming off his body faded away completely while Sora stood straight up in front of him. "That complicates things here, but again," Castiel paused and frowned more at Sora. "Is this really what you should be spending your time on? Missions for the Resistance that they did not even ask of you?"

"It's not about the Resistance," Sora countered. "Krillin was trapped by Lelouch, just like you. All that time and his wife and daughter were prisoners of these madmen. He couldn't do anything for them then, and now? All he can do is sit there and do whatever Terminus says so that they aren't killed? It's, unfair."

Castiel hesitated for a few seconds. "Like it is with Kairi?" He wondered.

Sora frowned at the question. Castiel continued to him though as Sora did not respond right away, "True, it is 'complicated.' In the same way that Xemnas is blackmailing your Nobody, Roxas. But Sora, would Xemnas hurt Namine if you went in and saved Kairi?" Sora turned back towards the angel and pursed his lips, thinking about that idea now too himself. "As you just displayed, you already know that that is not the case. It would not make sense for Gero to get rid of his bargaining chip against 17 and Krillin. Just as it would not make sense for Xemnas to harm Namine, and lose Roxas. A Keyblade-wielding Nobody makes him one of the most powerful of their ranks, alongside Noxagh."

"I get that," Sora whispered. "But, I can't do it without Roxas." Sora shook his head back at Castiel who frowned at the boy who shook it faster that Castiel just thought he was being hesitant. "You don't get it, Cass. My friends are my power. They, always have been. On my own I'm actually really weak."

"That's not true-"

"I wouldn't have saved you or Krillin by myself," Sora countered Castiel. "Kirito, Goku, and Timmy were there too. I almost failed. I lost it in my anger, and we nearly lost that fight. By myself? I never would have beaten Lelouch. Xemnas?" Sora wondered, tilting his head to the side with a pained look over his face. "How can I imagine defeating him on my own?"

"…You have friends. Many friends. Friends of yours, and Kairi's," Castiel paused while Sora ground his teeth and clenched his eyes shut. "I do not understand why you do not bring them with you-"

"Because then we're throwing stealth out the window!" Sora exclaimed at Castiel. "We have two options. I can try to do it myself, sneaking in and finding Kairi and just getting her out of there, that way I protect Roxas and Namine too! Or, or I bring in all my friends and we go for a total wipe of the Organization. If we do that though, I- I'll have to fight Roxas again!" Sora shouted, tears welling up in his eyes. Castiel pulled his head back while Sora bowed his own with his chin pressing against his chest. "I hated that. That I had to fight him, again. He was so frustrated. So hurt. He'll be sent out to fight me if I bring friends for an all-out attack, and they'll watch him do it, and if he fails! Or if he doesn't try hard enough… they'll hurt her. We can't quickly get through Castle Oblivion. And what about the Organization's allies? Will they show up if we rush in all of us together? Will Meruem come attack and turn the tides? I don't know! The Saiyans are Lords under the Organization now, so can Xemnas order all of them to come attack us? There are Saiyans more powerful than Goku up there! So what am I supposed to do, Cass?! Do I just ignore all of that?!"

"Kirito said he would rush in immediately if it was his wife in danger, and I want to do that. I- I'm scared though, Cass. It's not just about saving Kairi. I have so much that I need to protect. So many promises I've made. More every day," Sora added in a frustrated tone, his fists curling at his sides as he mentioned it. "I'm stressed. I'm trying to figure out more about what I'm supposed to do. More of what the Keyblade can do!" Sora yelled, explaining deeper why they had come here in the first place. "But instead I just hear that other Keybearers have stood by and watched when the horrors of the multiverse went on. That it wasn't their problem! And I can't accept that. That's not who I am. It might be what your Gods expect of me, but I'm not doing that!"

Castiel's look had shifted and he just nodded along so far as Sora explained his reasons more in-depth than ever for why he was holding back on their most important mission. He frowned though at that last thing Sora told him. "There will always be villains in this world, Sora," Castiel told the boy who frowned back at him. Castiel frowned deeper though that Sora would get upset over that, and he reminded him, "This world has light and darkness in it. A balance. Your interference, if it causes an imbalance, could bring the Darkness closer could it not?" Castiel had asked Sora not to explain too much to him that his Gods might not want him hearing, but Sora was a talkative guy and they had spent days together now. It was difficult for him to keep his mouth shut about it when he had even more questions that Castiel had none of the answers to. Sora's frown faltered though as Cass' question that made Sora purse his lips and look away in confusion.

"Perhaps that is why the rules against meddling are there in the first place," Castiel suggested. "Because to meddle as a Keybearer risks drawing the Darkness ever closer? What if by thinking you're helping, in reality you are only hurting the people here by-"

"By what? Saving them?!" Sora exclaimed back at him.

"Maybe," Castiel responded with less emotion than Sora had on his face when he shouted that. Sora pulled his head back, but Castiel asked him, "What do you really know about the Keyblade? You say that you want to be a hero. You say that is the kind of Keybearer you will be, but do you know if that is even possible this time?"

"It has to be," Sora replied, calming down himself.

"How do you know?" Castiel wondered back.

"Because, Kairi's a Princess of Heart." Sora's response made Castiel flinch and open his eyes wider. He actually was asking more skeptically and rhetorically as he did not think that Sora would have an answer for him. He did not think that Sora knew any better than he did. Sora smiled softly though and told Castiel, "She wields the Keyblade. She holds both titles. Which means we need to be good. Because, maybe that is the difference between us and the Keybearers of the past. The ones who never could beat the Darkness."

Castiel froze up even more that Sora sounded to have a theory about this. "I ask myself sometimes, what are the chances that Kairi was picked as both?" Sora questioned. "The title of a Keybearer, and a chosen Princess of Heart? Seven Princesses were needed to open that final door to the darkness, or to the light. Seven Guardians of Light are needed to fend off the Darkness. She's both." Sora smiled confidently and told Castiel with no doubt in his mind, "Kairi is the key. To all of this. The Gods told me and King Mickey all this important stuff. We're out here trying to find the Keyhole-" Castiel opened his mouth but Sora continued quicker, "And gather up all the Guardians. That includes Roxas, and Axel," Sora paused while watching Castiel close his mouth. I know you located the Keyhole for me. I appreciate that help, Castiel. But it's not the most important thing to me right now. It's not even high up on my list.

"But Kairi's the one who really matters. I'm not just saying that because I love her more than anything in the world," Sora added. "I'm saying it because they told me just how many times the Keybearers before me have failed. I want to know what was different between myself and them, if anything! I need there to be something, Cass. Because if there is no difference, then it makes no sense that I'd be able to do what all of them couldn't. But maybe I'm not different. Maybe, I'm just more of the same. If I chose to leave this world without saving it because that would be 'meddling,' then I'd be just another in a long line of non-interfering Keybearers, who all failed at the same goal I'd be rushing off to. Even if I do things differently like that, maybe it's not different enough."

"Kairi's the anomaly though. She must be," Sora added softer. "She's the most special girl in the whole world. Xemnas won't hurt her. Axel and Roxas will protect her. The barriers blocking Castle Oblivion's dimensions from the rest of Nexus, can protect her."

"'Protect her?' They're trapping her," Castiel countered him.

"Is it safer out here?" Sora asked quietly. "I want her freed, but free to go where? This world- this whole continent at least! It's horror after horror. Ben watched us all get killed in a time forgotten that I believe he saw. He saw me and Kairi die, and that sticks with me, Castiel. He watched us die to a villain whose time machine, or powers, he used to keep us alive today, but what if that hadn't happened? I nearly died a hundred times in the war on the Saiyan Mountains! If I hadn't called your name out that moment of sheer terror, myself, Goku, and Dash were dead. What then? How would I have saved Kairi? How would we have saved anyone?! Any worlds? Or fought the Darkness… Cass, I'm not ready for this."

"So when I say I need to learn more about the Keybearers, and I run straight into some seemingly random danger, I'm doing it for a reason," Sora explained. He hoped the angel would just listen to him this time. "I'm glad you came with me. Like I said, I can't do anything right on my own. But Cass, I need you to trust that I'm not just messing around. I'm not doing these things on a whim, or because I'm scared- or just because I'm scared," Sora countered himself, because he could not pretend not to be afraid after all he had just said. He took in a deep breath though and just finished, "I have a lot I need to learn. I winged it the first two times I saved the multiverse. But I had Donald and Goofy with me. I didn't doubt that I could win!"

"On Nexus I've been left to figure it out on my own. No inter-dimensional space wizard duck or epic dog knight with a heart of gold to guide my way- haha," Sora laughed just describing his closest friends who it hurt him a little to talk about. He still smiled in nostalgia imagining them though. "That's part of why I'm so glad you're here with me, Castiel." Castiel stared into Sora's eyes with his hesitation fading away while the kind-hearted boy smiled so assuredly back at him. "I rushed off on my own thinking I could go save Kairi, and find the Keyhole, and gather the Guardians, and save all my friends, help the Resistance- I thought I could do it all! Within a day I was piss-drunk in a bar ranting about how stressed out I was to the first guy who'd talk to me!"

Castiel lifted the right corner of his lips slightly up at the ridiculous way in which Sora described that. His lips flattened back out to his normal expression fast, but Sora grinned much wider that his normally stoic angel friend just smiled at him. Sora reached out and patted a hand down on Castiel's shoulder, "Now! I have no idea how I'm going to help 18 and Marron. So I'm at a dead-end here too. Honestly, I'm at dead-ends all over the place. King Mickey left a message for me with King Triton in Atlantis though. He told me to find the Keyhole. The Gods wanted me to do the same. If King Mickey said it though, there's a chance he's also going for it. He might be there. He might be able to help me figure out how we can be different from the Keybearers before us. And, he might have a different perspective on how we can save Kairi without hurting our friends in the Organization."

Castiel nodded his head back at Sora after a few more seconds. The Gods telling him to find the Keyhole is barely a second thought. The Keyhole itself is just where he wishes to go to find more of his friends, not because he needs to seal it… Castiel sighed after nodding but let his thoughts trail off. It is not my place to argue with the Keybearer. Maybe he's the one who's right. So many have their faith in him, and he's trying his best to prove them right by being a success in a throng of failures.

"I accept your reasons, Sora… I do believe that you're trying your best," Castiel told him.

"That's all anyone can do," Sora replied. He clapped his hands together then reached down and into his bag. "Okay. You said, uh, the Dungeon right? I don't know where that is-"

"The bottom floor of the Dungeon," Castiel corrected. Sora gave him a sideways look as to why Castiel specified that. Castiel frowned though and said, "I have been trying to explain to you, but the Dungeon is not just something you can descend through to the bottom with ease. I cannot teleport you into it either. This is not something we can do on a whim-"

"Well we'll figure it out!" Sora tossed his pokeball he had pulled out. "Lugia!" Sora announced. The ball bounced back to his hand while the massive Legendary Pokemon emerged in front of him. Castiel bit down behind Sora whose immediate transition back to a carefree attitude made it tough to take everything else that was just said seriously. Sora leapt up in the air and landed on Lugia's back. "Come on, Cass! On to the next stop!"

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A/N Thanks for reading! Another Sora chapter to start off the next arc like how the 3rd moon flashback chapter started the Sylar one. This full chapter (arc) is going to be called Zodd, so you can guess who it's going to be following! We see Krillin again and find out what he's been going through since he tracked down Android 17 after his meeting with Meruem and Pitou. Dr. Gero and a Dr. "Myuu" are working together in charge of the mysterious Terminus who we've not heard much about in this story up until now. They're probably the region that's been discussed the least, but a lot of very powerful characters have just been introduced. Sora makes a promise to help 17 and Krillin's family as best as he can, then he and Castiel argue about what Sora's priorities should be while he's been bouncing all over the continent. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave me a review telling me what you think below, questions, predictions, or comments too! List of characters then review response time:

DBZ, DB, and DBGT: 17, 18, 14, 15, Android 8 (Eighter), Suno, Dr. Gero, Dr. Myuu, Krillin, Goku, Red Ribbon Army, Marron

Kingdom Hearts: Riku, Sora, Kairi, Xemnas, Donald, Goofy, Keyhole, Keybearers, Keyblade, King Mickey, King Triton, Roxas, Axel, Namine

Supernatural: Dean, Castiel

Pokemon: Lugia

Terminator 3: Terminatrix

Gurren Lagann: Simon, Viral, Lordgenome, Cytomander the Swift

Star Wars: Han Solo

Lord of the Rings: Aragorn

Hunter x Hunter: Meruem

Fairy Tail: Zeref, Spriggans

Bleach: Aizen, Espada

One Piece: Zoro

Blue Exorcist: Satan

-And I think that's everyone that was mentioned this chapter. If I missed anyone let me know in a review and I'll tell you where they're from! Well! Review response time:

Smlluffy67 chapter 129 . Jan 17

BLAKE ALL THE RWBY GIRLS ARE ALIVE THE MAIN ONES ANYWAY STILL DONT KNOW ABOUT NORA PYRRA OR BEST GIRL PENNY well... um yang is still technically alive and GARLIC Jr was kinda wondering about him since he's one of the few immortals on nexas and one of the few dbz movie villains that i think someone who's not a planet or contry buster could handle and there in the distortion world I'm surprised giratina is just letting them use his dimension like that also HAHAHA GARLIC JR IS THE LEADER OF UMBRELLA WOW also where are the minions can't have despicable me without minions also i hope blake knows what's she doing cause that could go wrong so fast. ALSO love that people combining different types of energy like Chakra and nen maybe we get to see advanced haki and ki in the future combined cough luffy cough.

also is there a possibility of the devil may cry crew showing up?

XD Glad you enjoyed the Garlic Jr. reveal! Lol definitely going to be interesting to see him fight. Plus yep, all the RWBY main 4 girls have been shown now. RWBY's a great show, and even though I haven't seen the newest seasons yet, I will catch up at some point (I think I stopped after S5 or 6?). Wonder what happened to the Minions? I definitely didn't just forget about them. No way... Lol, anyway, yeah I like Sabo's abilities too. I think more characters like Kirito who just learn a ton of their abilities on Nexus is always a fun thing to write. I do listen to Vergil's theme a lot when I write battle scenes, so maybe they'll show up! I am the storm that is... well, you know! :) Thanks for the reviews!

Darugus chapter 129 . Jan 18

Nice chapter
Really nice getting an update on ace and sabo as well as a look at the umbrella corp and it was surprising to see garlic jr as the leader didn't expect that. Also didn't expect black to be part of it tho she seems to definitely have ulterior motive to try and get revenge from the inside. Other than that the end of the arc following natsu's group last chapter was great looking forward to more of that and since we're moving to another group of the main characters gonna guess it's gonna be Rin and Luffy's group next since we saw ace and sabo this chapter along with some plans from Lucifer regarding a new vessel. Looking forward to the next chapter!

Thanks! Glad you're liking the new developments. Nice prediction one who was next, but not much of a spoiler that it's Ben's since the title of the next chapter literally has Zodd Part 1 in it! XD Thanks for the review, and hope you enjoyed the chapter!

cyber chapter 129 . Jan 20

hey i was reading your death fanfic, i was wondering will your fanfic characters appear here.

and have you scene the series invincible will they appear

As for Death, yes! I introduced Zach into some flashbacks a few chapters back at the end of chapter 16 I believe. I revealed in those flashbacks how the AU of my fanfic Death is where the My Hero characters came from. Also that they teleported to Nexus right on New Year's of that first year that they were in school which was important in the Death fanfic... Anyway! Invincible, I'm not sure. A lot of very strong characters to introduce, and I haven't watched the show yet but have seen some scenes from it. Not sure where I'd introduce them yet if I decide to, but again, we'll see! No spoilers! XD Thanks for the review, and hope you enjoyed this chapter!

-I thank you all again for reading, and to everyone who reviewed, faved, and followed this story especially! 'Til next time!